How to Create a Brand Voice for Your Fitness Business

61% of customers are more likely to buy a product or service from a brand with unique content. 

But how do you make your content unique?

The answer: develop a brand voice. 

Long-lasting brands have the strongest voice. For a business to endure, it needs to have a good brand voice. However, according to recent statistics, only 48% of employees feel like their business talks about their brand with a unique voice.

In truth, it takes time and hard work to build a consistent brand across all areas of your business but, it’s essential. A strong brand voice helps your audience to identify your content and business no matter where they are looking. So in this article, we talk about the importance of brand voice and how you can create one for your fitness business that builds trust and drives awareness. 

Skip ahead to

• What Is a Brand Voice?
• Why Does Your Fitness Business Need a Strong Brand Voice?
• 7 Steps to Create a Brand Voice for Your Fitness Business

What Is a Brand Voice? 

Your brand voice encompasses multiple aspects. It’s the personality behind your brand, from the words and language you use to the images you implement alongside your marketing collateral. Your brand voice is the emotion that goes into your brand’s messaging and communication. It’s how you cut through the noise and leave a lasting, positive impression on your audience. 

Every time you post on social media, update your website copy, launch a new Facebook ad, you’re showcasing your brand voice. Just like you would with your social media strategy or new product launch, your brand voice must be well thought out. Developing a brand voice requires consistency and repetition throughout your business.  

A brand voice determines the direction of your brand identity. We explore the topic of brand identity further and talk about what branding is and why it matters. Learn about the steps you need to take to develop your brand identity for your fitness business. 

Why Does Your Fitness Business Need a Strong Brand Voice? 

Often, when people think of brands, they think of the visual identity of the business: the logo, colors, and imagery associated with the brand. But, if you removed the logo from your content, would your audience know it’s you based solely on the voice? Nailing your voice can be tough, but it can benefit your brand in the long-term.  

Builds Trust 

Consistent branding and messaging create trust. By delivering a consistent message, you’re building trust. Establishing a cohesive voice can help you win over potential customers and land new members. Consumers are more likely to engage and spend more money with brands they trust. 

Longevity

Some of the best and most enduring companies have a strong sense of purpose and exceptional brand voice. If you want your fitness business to last, you need to develop its identity and voice. Your messaging and communication should be clear and consistent across the board. Developing brand recognition requires repetition over time. If your personality is constantly changing, how will your customers know who you are? 

Drive Brand Awareness

According to Adweek, creating a brand voice can help solidify you in the minds of consumers. Without it, you have the potential to fade into the background. Whether you’re funny, quirky, serious, or emotional, your brand’s personality and language goes a long way in driving brand awareness. For some inspiration, check out how these three fitness brands that stand out on social media with their unique voice and intelligent marketing strategies. 

Consistent Messaging 

A strong brand voice needs a consistent message and repetition to be compelling. But, a brand voice also helps you to nail down your messaging and keep it consistent across all mediums. It helps you to not only remain consistent online but enables employees to understand the brand voice as well so that your business has one personality. 

A great resource on brand voice is The Simple Marketing Show Podcast. Listen to episode 42 – how to find your brand voice with Bethany Joy. Bethany is a brand voice creator with a background in copywriting. She talks about how businesses can create a consistent brand voice and why the language we use is important.   

7 Steps to Create a Brand Voice for Your Fitness Business 

Maintaining a clear voice right from the beginning is key to developing brand recognition and awareness. When you switch between voices, it could potentially confuse, annoy, or even drive customers away. Here are eight steps to take to start developing your brand voice for your fitness business. 

1. Audience Research 

When you create anything, research is crucial. Your brand voice is no different. When you communicate with your target audience, you’re using your brand voice. So, what better place to start by researching your target audience. No doubt, you probably already have a good understanding of your audience from previous research. Compile as much data as possible on the different personas at your gym. 

Once you have a foundation of information, start looking into how your audience communicates. Listen to how your members communicate with each other; what language do they use? How your members talk about your brand is a good starting point when you’re thinking about your brand personality. Of course, make sure the language and personality you use are natural for your brand. 

2. Review Your Mission Statement 

Your personality should reflect your purpose, your mission, and your core values. Review your mission statement and values. This will help you to figure out how your brand voice and marketing efforts can connect with your core values and goals. After all, your mission statement says exactly who you are and how your brand can help your audience. 

If you don’t have a mission statement or feel like you need to update yours, don’t worry. We’ve pulled together a guide on how to create an effective mission statement for your gym. We talk about why your brand needs a mission statement and the elements to consider when building one.  

3. Analyze Your Current Messaging and Content 

If you already have content you’ve produced, take a look at it. Analyze your current messaging and see if it’s in line with your brand. Review all your content and marketing assets, including your website, blogs, videos, social media posts, and print collateral. Look out for common themes and messaging that you feel meet your core values and goals. At the same time, look out for any inconsistencies. Make a note of areas that could be improved. 

During this process, pay particular attention to your best-performing pieces of content. If you have a social media post or blog post that performed really well, you can find out what resonates more with your audience. Why did it perform so well, and how can you apply that same strategy and voice to the rest of your brand? 

4. Create an Online Member Survey 

Audience surveys are a fantastic way to find out what your customers are actually thinking. If you already have members, create a simple poll asking about your brand. Make the survey quick and easy to fill out. You can choose to leave it anonymous; this way, members will be more likely to give their honest opinion. Include questions like the following:

• Describe my brand in three words
• Can you recognize my brand easily?
• If my brand were a person, describe my personality 

Whether it’s for research purposes or you’re looking for member feedback, gym surveys are a useful resource. Tools like SurveyMonkey, Google Form, and Survicate make the process very quick. You can use surveys for general feedback from new and existing members, fitness goals, and membership cancellation queries.  

5. Outline Your Ideal Brand Voice 

You’re now at a stage where you’ve carried out audience research, and you’ve received feedback from your members. In order to figure out what you are, it can help to figure out what you’re not. For example, we’re funny but not sarcastic, or we’re quirky but not silly. Repeat this process until you have three or four sentences that explain more about your brand. 

Next, take about four words that describe your brand and create a brand voice chart. The chart should explain how your brand voice should and shouldn’t be used throughout the business. For example, if you’re friendly you might be playful but not too casual. The brand voice chart is a great way to really figure out your voice and nail down the specifics. 

To explore the topic of brand voice further, this episode from the Voice for Fitness Professionals Podcast discusses 5 Quick Ways to Buff Your Fitness Brand Now. The episode talks about defining your fitness brand, standing out from the competition, and brand consistency.  

6. Clear Content and Marketing Guidelines 

For your brand voice to be consistent across your business, you need to inform your employees. This means delivering clear content and marketing guidelines that they can refer to when creating any piece of content, posting on social media, or pushing out a new Google Ads campaign. 

Guidelines help to ensure consistency across all employees. Whether you’re filming an Instagram Story of your latest fitness challenge or writing a blog post about how to keep your fitness motivation up, guidelines help ensure consistent messaging. It doesn’t matter if you have a team of two or twenty, it’s essential to make sure everyone is on the same page and presenting one brand voice. 

7. Be Consistent Across All Channels 

Consistency is the key to successful branding. It comes as no surprise that repetition and consistency can make or break a brand. There’s a lot of elements that come into play when we discuss branding from your design and perspective to words and core values. 

Once you’ve created your brand voice, ensure that it aligns with the rest of your branding. Ideally, you can create your brand voice as you develop the rest of your brand. But, if this isn’t the case, then just check back to the rest of your branding to make sure your voice fits your business.   

In order to create a strong brand voice and benefit from it, it needs to be enforced across all channels. Share your branding documents and guidelines with all employees and make it a part of the onboarding process. All customer-facing assets should sound like they were produced by one brand and one personality. 

In Summary 

Brand voice is essential for building out your larger brand identity and creating consistent messaging throughout your business. Your brand voice allows you to connect with potential members and build trust. By carrying out thorough research and taking the right steps, you can start to develop your brand voice and drive your fitness brand forward.